I'm not a huge fan of fruit leathers, but this turned out super good! And, really, you can't go wrong with blackberries, mint and rum.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Eco book roundup

Since I posted this last Saturday, I wanted to bump it up to make sure people got a chance to add their own recommendations and read the ones already submitted...

I've got books coming out of my ears. They are literally piling up on most surfaces of the house: end tables, in the bedroom, pretty much everywhere there's a flat surface. I'm so behind on my reading that it's not even funny. These are all books that I'm either actively reading or mean to read in the short-term.

Anyway, just like the eco cleaner roundup, I wanted to get your input about your favorite environmentally related books (purchased or borrowed from the library or elsewhere). You can give one or more answers if you like in any of the following categories:

Feel free to add what you liked about the book, if you have time, for others to get an idea if this is something they would like to add to their reading list. These roundups are turning into great resources thanks to your input!

26 comments:

I don't read too much into peak oil and the world is coming to an end type books- I prefer to be a Polly Anna or Scarlet O'Hara type on those topics- But I do read: here is what I have read latetly:Organic gardening/permaculture: Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener's Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting by R.J. Rupenthal- I won this in a giveaway on some Eco-Chick's site and wrote areview. I like that it is an easy reading book, is full of great information.

Squarefoot Gardening by Mel Bartholemew- THE BIBLE FOR SPACE INTENSIVE GARDENING. Am on my third edition of this great book for growing food.

Food or cooking related (slow food, eating local, etc.)The New McDougall Diet Cookbook- I won this from some Vegan-Chile Eatin Chick's McDougal Blog great recipes, great inspiration for cookin meatless and healthyGreen lifestyle:Living Like Ed!- love the man.. love his book. Has great tips on "gathering the low hanging fruit" I did a review on this one also

I'm afraid my faves aren't very original, but I'll contribute them all the same.

2. Food / cooking - "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Pollan is great, and accessible for those who know nothing about this stuff, as is "The 100 Mile Diet" (called "Plenty" in the US) by Smith and MacKinnon.

7. Frugal living / finances - "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Dacyzyn is a wealth of ideas, and "Your Money or Your Life" changed the way I view work and money.

FRUGAL: I second the shout-out (and do it loudly, atop tall things) for Dacyzyn's The Complete Tightwad Gazette which revolutionized the way I think about a lot of stuff. Plus Dacyzyn was eco-conscious back when "green" still just referred to an option in the Crayola box.

EVERYTHING ABOVE & THEN SOME: I can't put down Emery's The Encyclopedia of Country Living which astonishes me because she's packed 'pert near everything into that book that you almost won't believe it.

Recently I've read (and really liked): Bottomfeeder and Kitchen Literacy. I love Nourishing Traditions for a take on grassfed meat/milk and a different look at fats. On the list to read: Mary Enig's book on fats, and the Bill McKibben reader.

It's subtitled, "the classic guide for realists and dreamers". That is, it's good for people who actually want to do stuff like grow tomatoes, repair their shoes, or start a smallholding - but it's also good for people just dreaming of that stuff.

I haven't read too many books on this topic, actually (have been getting everything from awesome blogs like this one :D ), but for #3, there's the classic and my favorite as a kid, 100 Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth, which really is the first thing that introduced me to saving water and electricity and whatnot.

As for #5, although this isn't about peak oil in particular, I found The Prize, which is basically a history of oil, totally fascinating. I've just read the first chapter or so, but it's just really interesting to learn how this whole debacle we're in right now started. You know, gives you some understanding and perspective.

For frugal living, although I have read books on the topic, my favorite source has been a blog called The Simple Dollar. :)

Peak Oil: Hands downs, Depletion and Abundance by Sharon Astyk. She opened our eyes to SO many routine daily "wastes" that I can't begin to describe how it changed our lives. My hubby and I are more energy conscious, food-spending conscious, spending-conscious, (and saving-conscious),resourcefulness-conscious, and generally aware of the use of petrolum/carbon in products/shipping/etc. Thank you Sharon.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan is what opened up my eyes to this whole situation we're in as a country. It didn't supply much information, howevever, on what changes one could personally make in their home, so I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and In Defense of Food, the sequel by Pollan. These last two books led me to a whole new "slow food" lifestyle.

One book that I really love is Wild Earth, edited by Tom Butler. It's a collection of articles from my favorite magazine ever, the Earth First!/Wildlands Project's Wild Earth Magazine. I used to give my issues to random nonenvironmentalists when I was done with them, including sullen high school kids at the bus stop (one of whom tracked me down later and thanked me and showed me her rattlesnake tattoo). It's just astonishing and beautiful and imaginative and wonderful.

For everyday use, I love Lorna Sass's book Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. Six days this week our dinner was a Sass recipe.

Breakthrough by Shellenberger & Nordhaus. Commonwealth by Jeffrey Sachs is probably worth reading as well, though it's important to retain some critical awareness of his ideas if you want to do development. The End of Food by Paul Roberts was good.

Peter Singer's classic text Animal Liberation finally motivated me to stop eating meat after many years of half-hearted, unsuccessful attempts. It's not strictly an environmental book, but it's so worth reading and does deal with the environmental implications of meat consumption.

And I definitely agree that Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a great all-rounder. It's funny and moving at times, but also has a lot valuable information and recipes too!

When it comes to cookbooks, I adore the folks at Moosewood and couldn't recommend their books (all of them!) enough.

I'll add to the food book category: Food Matters, a new book by Mark Bittman, a regular in the New York Times Dining section. Not only a good read, but there are a bunch of recipes, many of which translate into really thrifty eating!

3. Lasagna Gardening.I'm all for low effort gardening since I have a bad back and this is AWESOME in that arena.

4. The Better World Handbook.More than just a handbook on responsible green living----this is a lovely little handbook on building community, and truly making the world kinder and better.

5. The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, by the Union of Concerned Scientists.Some of the information in this book suprised me. I don't agree with everything, but it was eyeopening.

6. It's Easy Being Green.Cute, charming, easy to follow---a fun primer for someone who wants to take a few baby steps toward greeness, and a challenge to those who want to go a step further into the emerald homestead. (:

9. Simply in Season. A cookbook based around seasonal cooking. Nice. From the same line of thought as the "Less is More" mennonite cookbook.

10. Mother Earth News, of course. (: Not a book, but so worth a look.

11. imaginechildhood.com Also, not a book, but so worth a mention. They have some of the most wonderful children's toys I have ever seen. All natural, play-based, creative and investigative kits, toys, books and games. WONDERFUL.

I see lots of books I like listed here already but the first book I ever read for learning how to live a sustainable life like the early Americans is Reader's Digest's Back To Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills.

I bought this book in the early 90's and it changed my life, set me on my path and I still have it and refer to it even now. We just got 4 baby chicks 2 weeks ago for a small backyard flock and this was the first place I looked for more info.

It has chapters on everything for living a simple, self-sustainable life incl. growing food, preserving, keeping livestock, skills & crafts (i.e. soapmaking), building a home and even wind, water and solar power.

I'd recommend "The Long Descent" by John Michael Greer for a discussion of Peak Oil and its repercussions. It's very heavy stuff, but he phrases it in a way that's fairly accessible, and talks about skills and strategies that will help us cope with the changes ahead.

For food-related books:I would second the endorsement of "Plenty" a.k.a. "The Hundred Mile Diet." (I recently had a conversation with a Canadian friend about it... we didn't realize we were talking about the same book!) It's a good read.

Also "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements" by Sandor Ellix Katz.

And a practical guide: "Food Security for the Faint of Heart" by Robin Wheeler (a basic primer on "keeping your larder full in lean times"- includes tips on gardening, foraging wild foods, preserving foods, disaster preparedness, etc- but told with an irreverent sense of humor which makes it a lot more palatable- pun intended- than most such guides.)